Gearing.



No. 800,670. PATENTED OCT. 3. 1905.

0. H. OCUMPAUGH.

GBARING.

APPLICATION FILED APR.12.1898.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 800,670. PATENTED OCT. 3, 1.905. H. OCUMPAUGH. GBARING.

APPLIOATION FILED APR. 12.1898.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z,

GEARING.

Speccaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 3', 1905.

Application filed Aprill2,1898. Serial N0. 677,348.

. lowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains tomake and use the same.

The invention relatesto gearing, and has for its object to providegearing of special i form, whereby great strength, small friction,freedom of movement, and certainty of proper The invention consists inthe construction hereinafter described and pointed out.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a partial plan of a bicyclewith the improvement Q applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of two lantern-wheels in mesh, and Fig. 3 is aplan s howing three wheels in mesh.

Numeral 1 denotes the rear wheel of a bi cycle, and 2 its hub. Said hubis connected byabartoapedal-shaft bearingl. Apedal- 1 shaft is denotedby 5, and 6 also denotes a bearing for the shaft. These bearings are sup ported by the members 7 of a frame-forli. (Partially shown in Fig. 1.)

8 denotes a lantern-wheel fixed to the pedalshaft, and 9 is a similarwheel iixed to the hub 2.

10 denotes a casing loosely connected to hub 2 and continuous with atube or tubular bar 10 to shaft-bearings 4 and 6.

11 is a shaft inclosed by the tubular bar 10 and carrying at its endslantern-wheels 12 and 13, respectively.

rl`he heads of the lantern-wheels are scalloped or cut away, asindicated at 11. (See Fig. 2.) Rollers 15 connect two heads, joining theexterior portions 16 of their peripherics. These rollers preferably haveantifriction ball-bearings, as indicated at 17 in Figs. 9. and 3.

The contiguous scalloped heads of two pairs of lantern-wheels aresimilar, and when suitably disposed to be operated, as indicated, theirrollers engage each other successively and transmit power from thecrank-shaft to the bicycle-wheel. The object of cutting away thelantern-heads at regular intervals and between the rollers is to permiteach peripheral projection 16 on one wheel-head to pass between twoprojections on the adjacent head of the other wheel, whereby thecontiguous rollers, one of cach wheel, may be engaged to transmit power.',lhe engagement of the rollers can be secured with great certainty, andit is not easily affected by wear nor by any slight distortion of theconnections. l

'lfhe end thrust of the tubular shaft is spent on the rollers, and if itshould happen in any case to be sul'licient to cause the projections tohave a meshing contact with each other no serious interference withtransmission of power will occur.

Although the meshing lantern-wheels have been shown applied to a bicycleand are very suitableand particularly designed for the purpose, theiruse is not in all cases limited to such machines.

1t is obvious that but one head in each wheel need be scalloped in thecase illustrated in Fig. 1; but both heads may be so formed, andmanifestly the construction is not limited to the cooperation of twowheels, and two or more wheels might be arranged to mesh in a similarmanner with a single wheel, as indicated in Fig. 3.

The lantern-wheel is easily manufactured and has great strength. Theycan be made so that thc rollers will engage each other without thenicety of workmanship required in ordinary bevel and spur gears, andtheir meshing or engagement is not so easily impaired.

l `he rollers, each supported or journaled in two heads, are moresecurely held than are pins and are less liliely'to get out of repair,and they permit greater freedom of movement lengthwise one upon another.

The angular arrangement shown in Fig. 1 can be used, or the wheels maybe situated in planes at right angles to each other, as illustrated inFigs. 2 and 3.

ln the modilication illustrated in Fig. t there is shown lixed to thecrank-shaft a double lantern-wheel 18, having a partition or diaphragm19, in which are journaled two sets of rollers, their outer ends beingjournaled in the heads of the wheel. 2() and 21 indicate lantern-wheelslixed to the opposite ends of shaft 22, each revolubly supported incasings 24k and 25 and inelosed by a tube 26, connecting the casings bymeans of interposed shaft-bearings 27. The rear wheels 21 mesh with therear side of wheels 2S and 29, liXed on the bicycle-hub and inclosed bya casing 25. 1n Fig. 6 a similar construction is indi- IOO cated on anenlarged scale, a single lanternwheel 8 being substituted for the doublewheel shown in Fig. 4.

lit is not essential that the side shaft be inl closed in parts of theframe nor that they iny frame, such tube will have suitable length andthe gears a proper arrangement-as, for example, wheel 8 would bearranged tomesh with wheel 12 on the outer side of the latter, asindicated in Fig. 7.

The improvement is not limited to a par ticular dimension. Lanternwheelson the i side shaft having eight rollers have been successfully usedwith a liub-wheel having fourteen rollers and a shaft-wlieel havingthirtyseveu rollers, each roller in the several wheels having a diameterof about five-sixteenths of an inch and a length of about one-half aninch. The shaft-wheels were about two inches in diameter, the hub-wheelabout three and onehalf inches in diameter, and the crank-wheel abouteight inches. Preferably the rollers will be arranged at right angles toeach other, though small variations will not be a substantial departurefrom the improvement. A variation has been indicated in several figuresof the drawings, but in an exaggerated manner, it being obvious that inpractice such variation would be slight in operatively connecting thepedal and wheel shafts. The described angular disposition of the rollersobviates end thrust on the shafts, and the improvement effects a largediminution in friction as compared with ordinary gears, whether providedwith rollers or not. In such construction there is little lost and therollers are always in mesh, though the wheels are arranged at any one ofvarious angles one to the other.

The head of each wheel is scalloped or cut away so that its edge doesnot extend beyond e the circumference of the roller throughout adistance equal to at least a semicircumference of a roller.

of uniform area in cross-section throughout their length, and they maybe made either convex or concave in form lengthwise.

By the construction above described it will be seen that the meshinglantern-wheels are capable of a great variety of angular adjust- [t isnot essential that the rollers be made i ments-that is to say, that theangle of one i,

lantern-wheel with relation to the other lantern-wheel with whichitimeshes may be varied considerably without interfering with thecomplete and positive operation of the j wheels. meshing wheels otherthan true lauternwheels having the rollers at a right angle to theheads. l `herefore my invention is to be rlhis would not be the casewere the distinguished from constructions in which the rollers of themeshingl wheels are at any angle to the head other than a, right angle.for the reason that in such wheels the angle of the rollers determinesthe relative position (or angle) of the interi'mishing parts of theadjacei'it orcoi'i'iperating wheel. Neither would angular adjustment,such as provided for by the present improvemeni'-` be practicable incase 'of approximately cone shaped interineshing teeth, for the reasonthat a slight variation in the angle of either wheel would causenarrower portions of the teeth to engage, resulting in a loss of power,while a small additional increase of the angle would throw them entirelyout of engagement, and, further, such teeth are necessarily supported alone end only and cannot he used in lanternwheels.

lt will be noticed that by forming the scallops 14: of greater widththan the diameter ol the rollers a greater variation in the angularrelation of the meshing lantern-wheels is proI vided for, as the meshingrollers` are therebyr permitted to pass into operati ve position atigreater inclination to each other.

l am aware that wheels having roller-teetl have been combined with eachother and tha a bevel gear-wheel fixed on a. crank-axle ha been made tomesh with a wheel having roller-W a range of more than one hundred andninet degrees without alteration of the axle-whee substantially asindicated in the several li;A ures of the drawings.

Havingdcscribed my inventiongv'hat l claii isl. A drivii'ig-shaft, alantern-wheel con prising plates having freely-rotatable rolleisupported to turn in said plates, a drive shaft, and a similarlantern-wheel niountt` thereon, the rollers` of each wheel being paallel to its shaft and the shafts arranged at a angle to each other.

Q, A. driving-shaft, a lantern-wheel wii two series of freely-rotatablerollers and thri plates in which said rollers are iournale the middleplate supporting the proxima ends of both series, a pair of driven shaftand lantern-wheels operatively engaged l the rollers of the wheel lirstnamed.

A driving-shaft, a lantern-wheel coi prising plates and freely-rotatablerolle supported to turn in said plates, a drivi shaft, and a similarlantern-wheel mount thereon, the rollers of each wheel beingl par: lelto its shaft and the shafts arrai'iged at angle to each other, thediarnetrie planes of the wheels inelosing less than a right angle.

il. A driving-shaft, n lantern-wheel connprsing plzrtes i(rnd two seriesol freely-rotatable rollers, a pair of driven shafts, and zt likelantern-wheel mounted on each of the pair of shafts, the rollers of saidlatter wheels being operatively engaged by the rollers of thelirst-n2uned wheel and the diainetrie planes olf eneh of the drivenwheels making less than n right angle with the driving-sluit.

5. A pedal-shaft, zr eentrally-sitintted driving lantern-wheelcomprising' plates :rnd two series of freely-rotatable rollers1 a pairof driven shafts, a lantern-wheel carried by euch of said shafts andprovided with freely-rotatable rollers operatively engaged by those olfthe li rst-mined wheel, and :in :ixle` said driven slntlits being gearedto the axle.

6. lrlle combination of :t driving-slnrlft, rt lzmtern\vlieelcomprising,l parallel plates and freely-rotatable rollers supported toturn in said plates, and :t like .driven lantern-wheel, the rollers ofezreh wheel being disposed at an angle to the coasting rollers olf theother.

ln testimony whereol l have signed this speeiliezttion in the presenceol two subscribing witnesses.

CllAlllllilS llllllvlllllll UCUMI'AUGH.

Witnesses:

S'rlari-inN ZirngrNslir, GEORGE A. GILLETTE.

